How to Remove Stains From Vintage Linens

Hello friends! Are you ready for the holiday weekend?! I sure am... an extra day off! Whoop!

In Tuesday's Treasure Trove Tuesday post I shared some vintage linens that I scored... tablecloths, pillow cases, tea towels, etc. When I buy old linens like this I hardly ever let a stain deter me because I have my very own tried and true miracle stain remover... and I'm going to share it with you today!

I will admit that there have been stains here and there that have been too stubborn even for this miracle treatment but more often than not it works wonderfully!

Here are two items from my loot that were pretty badly stained. The arrows are pointing to the stains in case you can't see them too well. It's hard to get a picture of a stain when you want it!! Ha Ha!

This is a vintage tea towel that had a pretty large stain.

And this is a vintage tablecloth that looked just awful with lots of stains... these are just a few of the worst ones!

You will not need to purchase anything for this miracle stain removal treatment. I promise you'll have everything you need at home already!

Here is the process I follow:

Spot treat the stains with a stain remover spray of your choice (Shout, Spray 'n Wash, etc.) - this step is optional, you don't have to do this step but I like that extra little bit of help!

Machine wash on a normal cycle with warm water.

Lay the wet items straight out of the washer on your lawn... yep! Just lay them directly on the grass in the sunshine!!

That's it! That's my miracle stain removal technique and it works almost every time!

Here are a couple of tips too:

It is best if you can leave them out overnight, something about the dew on the grass in the morning really helps this process. The sunshine will take care of the rest!

Sometimes you may need to do this process twice.

Do NOT dry your items in the dryer when they are stained, the dryer heat will set the stains and make them hard to remove or not removable at all.

Want to see those two items from above after I've used the miracle stain removal technique?

Here is the tea towel. I had to do the process twice on this one!

The tablecloth...

Every. Single. One. of those awful stains came out people!!!

I know there are products you can buy to help remove stains but I prefer to try the free method first! So what do you think? Did you already know about this method?

11 comments

Before I clicked open your post, I was hoping to see the crofting method used by you, and it is! The combo of grass and sun works wonders....just have to keep my dog away so I don't need a puppy foot stains rewash. :)

I'm definitely going to give this a try Tania, because I never let a few stains put me off buying a pretty vintage linen. Thanks for sharing at Shabbilicious Friday last week. I'm delighted to be featuring your linen tip at tomorrow's party. Hugs ~ Kerryanne

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Hi, I'm Tania, welcome to Little Vintage Cottage, a DIY and home decor blog where it's ok to color outside the lines and be a little weird! I hope you'll follow along as I share my own home decor and DIY adventures in my 1960's ranch house.

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